


Thank You

by shumais



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Dreams, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-New Dangan Ronpa V3, for like a split second
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 22:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28732344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shumais/pseuds/shumais
Summary: Shuichi sees him one last time.
Relationships: Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Kudos: 74





	Thank You

Shuichi wakes up, well, nowhere. It’s just a blank area. 

There’s something he notices in the distance though, so he gathers enough courage to walk towards it.. hoping it’s an answer to where he is. There’s scraping, it gets louder every step closer he gets. At some point he’s able to make out what it is.. and he stiffens. Someone he hasn’t seen in a long time..

Kokichi.

The scraping comes to a halt, and Kokichi’s head turns up to stare into him. Shuichi tilts himself to the side just a bit to see where the scraping was coming from, a rock. A rock that says ‘horse a’.

What a way to start this dream.. nightmare.. whatever the hell this is going to be tonight. 

“Hey Saihara-chan.”

That voice, he hasn’t heard it in so long.. his fists clench by his sides. Kokichi uses a hand to dust the rock, and once the message is visible enough he rises. Even as he cleans the nonexistent dust off himself, his eyes are locked onto the former detective. 

Shuichi can’t think of what to say, because there’s too many things  to say. He’s afraid the first thing he says will come out as frustration that’s been piling up inside him since that trial, or sadness that he’s been tearing at his insides since forever.

And he doesn’t have to say anything it seems, he stares at the hand Kokichi holds out to him. He accepts it passively, and they begin their inevitable voyage these dreams always hold.

He just notices that he’s in his old uniform, just makes him want to claw his way out of this place even more. He always wants to leave, ever since the Kaede themed dream.. he never wanted to experience one again. No matter what though.. he always stays, because these are the last chances he gets to see the classmates he failed to save, to hear out, to understand. 

Would this dream help him understand the mystery that Kokichi Ouma is? Probably not.. even if he has the ability to control these dreams however he wants when they get too sickening and he could get answers.. that wouldn’t be right. Kokichi tried so hard to make himself unable to be figured out, so why take a shortcut once he’s dead?

Staring down at the boy, he notices his eye’s are no longer violet.. just pitch black. It’s this dream world.. trying to get it into his thick skull that he’s not alive. No matter how much he tries to fix the eyes, they remain the way they are.

It’s even more unsettling when those eyes look up at him, he chokes down a cry. 

“Hey, let’s watch it.” Kokichi says, voice turning into the cheerful tone it used to be.

He stares down to the former leaders hands, they hold a motive video. Before he can even speak, Kokichi plops himself down onto the blank floor. He stares up at Shuichi, pouting. Hesitantly, he takes a seat with him. 

He learned after two of these dreams, he has to play along with what’s happening. It’s foul, because he’s basically playing another game.. and in the end they just die all over again, no matter what you do. 

But the good part.. he gets to see them one more time. So he keeps going.

Kokichi turns the video on. As he was expecting, it’s Kokichi’s motive video. How funny.. one answer to his questions about the fake organization was answered too easily for his liking back then. 

A bunch of clowns who forbid murder.. thinking about that and what Kokichi did.. it was mortifying, wasn’t it? Of course anyone who killed in that game would be ashamed of their actions.. but a pacifist doing the one thing they despise.. 

The video shuts off, Kokichi’s smiling. “Did you like it? My organization..” 

Quietly, he finally speaks. “Yes.”

Kokichi brings the motive video close to his chest. “I didn’t get to save them.”

He grimaced. “I’m sorry.” 

Kokichi then tosses it aside. “It doesn’t matter anymore.” He jumps up, scanning the blank area to see where they should head next. Shuichi looks into the direction he tossed the video, it was gone. 

“Let’s go there!” Kokichi points ahead at nothing. Shuichi nods, preparing himself for what might come next. 

* * *

It’s not that bad actually. They’re both seated at a table, he stares into an empty cup. It doesn’t make sense, there’s nothing in his cup but for Kokichi.. he has coffee. The former leader slams his cup down, making him jolt upright. 

“This was terrible, I hate coffee.” Kokichi states, shooting the cup a scalding glare.

Shuichi stares. “I thought that was a lie?” 

Kokichi shrugs. “I don’t know what’s a lie or what’s the truth anymore.” 

It felt like those words shot straight through his stomach. How can he just say things like that without a care in the world? Sometimes he wishes he could be like that, unbothered by everything.

Kokichi skips away without another word, he sighs. After taking a few steps away from the table, it’s gone again. 

He picks up his pace when Kokichi calls for him. They stand in front of a door.. the door to Gonta’s research lab. He looks at Kokichi, eyes slowly widening. Kokichi doesnt look back, instead he swings the door open and steps in.  The bugs.. he doesn’t want to see them, but he has no choice when Kokichi drags him in. 

Surprisingly, it’s empty. Not a bug in sight.. but that’s not a good thing, is it?

“All the bugs are gone.” Kokichi states flatly. Ah, so he also noticed. 

Kokichi sniffles. “Because Gonta died, right? So the bugs had nobody to take care of them.” 

His breath hitched. “What..?” Kokichi doesn’t look at him. “..Nevermind.” Then he spins around, usual grin stretching across his face. They decide to leave, the energy of this place was bothering them. Before he steps out, he gives the room one last glance.. and shuts the door.

* * *

“Another tie! You’re pissing me off!”

Rock paper scissors. They played this game 100 times last time, but this time he’s lost count. He wants to end it, he wants to call Kokichi out for his trick.. and call it a day. But he can’t, he just has to keep playing along..

After one more tie, Kokichi finally gets sick of it. “Hey did you know there’s a way to tie no matter what?”

“Yeah, I know.” 

Kokichi’s snickering stops, and those pitch black eyes bore into him again. Then he skips away, humming a tune he feels like he should recognize.

He’s getting tired of this, having to relive these scenarios. The ones where they go through their free time together are fine.. but other than that he hates it. Why can’t he just wake himself up already?

The sound of something colliding with wood and a splatter makes him freeze. His eyes travel down slowly, and spot Kokichi sprawled out on the floor. His breathing quickened as he rushed over to him.

As he lifts the boy up, he notices the floorboard. His thoughts jump to the floorboard that killed Angie.. the one that Tenko’s corpse laid on, but he’s pulled out of this when there’s a groan from Kokichi. 

“A-Are you alright...?”  _ Of course he isn’t, the blood is.. proof of that. _

He reaches a hand out to lift his bangs to examine the wound, but Kokichi scoots back. He scrubs his bangs against his forehead, then the blood is gone. So is the floorboard.

..He pushed him away just like he always did in the game. 

* * *

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Shuichi watches the knife tap between Kokichi’s fingers. He wanted to stop it this time, but he knows what Kokichi wants. He wants his finger to be bandaged by him again.. so he’ll give that to him.

The second the knife slices his finger, he springs into action. The first aid kid appears out of thin air, he takes it shakily. As he wraps the bandage around Kokichi’s finger, there’s no laughter this time. 

There’s not him saying  _ I stole your heart so now I’m satisfied! _ Just silence, unbearable silence he never thought would come when around Kokichi. He just gets up from his seat and skips away again.

If that’s not what he wanted, what does he want? That was the last time they spent with each other alone before..

A strong gust of heat hits him. He turns his head to the source.. and it’s the door to the outside world. The outside world that was in ruins. The air is becoming limited, he chokes on his own gasps for air. Then the door shuts, and he sees Kokichi standing with his back turned to him.

“W-Why did you.. do that!?” He shouts through coughs. There’s no response. He picks himself up and staggered towards Kokichi. “O-Ouma-kun!”

Kokichi looks at him, tears stain his cheeks. 

“..Are you alright..?” He asks, voice lowering. Kokichi saw this alone back then, and he had no support. Maybe this is what he actually wants.. support. But how would he do that if he’s always running? 

Kokichi brings his arm up and rubs his eyes, going back to smiles when he finishes. Their voyage that seems never ending continues.. but he feels like whatever just occurred gave him a bit of understanding.

* * *

Toilet paper rolling across the blank floor. Hammer, phone, scattered across the it as well. Fire.. bugs.. shards of a laptop.. dead Monokubs. Why.. Why is he seeing this. This was in the dream with Gonta so why..!

He turns to Kokichi, words of frustration on the tip of his tongue. And Kokichi’s smiling, wide and full of malice. “Do you see that! Hahah.. Gonta died for such a dumb reason, don’t you think!?”

Not again. He’s not doing this again. His fists clench, nails digging into his palms and almost drawing blood. “Funny..? Ouma-kun are you serious!? You’re doing this- again..” He trails off. What he’s doing.. trying to make himself seem like the bad guy, again.

“..It’s not funny, is it? You’re lying.” He says, determination returning to his voice. Kokichi’s eyebrows raise, and the horrific scene in front of them finally disappears. “What does Saihara-chan mean?” 

He clears his throat. “You.. in the k-killing game, you tried making yourself worse than you actually were to throw everyone off. It all makes sense now.” 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, all of our deaths have gotten to your head and are making you spew bullshit.” Kokichi snaps back. 

“That’s not it! What you did worked perfectly for your plan to act as the mastermind! So-“ 

“Shut up. Like I said.. you don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“You’re only saying this because I caught you!”

Kokichi’s mouth pressed into a thin line, the pitch black eyes flickering from that to another color, then once again settle back into black. Shuichi steps forward, nearly collapsing when the world vibrates from the weight of the Exisals colliding with the floor. 

In Kokichi’s hand was the remote controlling them, his grip on it was tight.. so tight his knuckles were turning white. “Shut up, SHUT THE HELL UP! This is wrong, you’re doing it all wrong!” He screamed, making the world vibrate even more.

That’s right.. he stopped playing along. He slammed a foot down. “I don’t give a damn!” Shuichi wouldn’t accept this ending, not again. Almost every dream.. he played along and lead them to their deaths  again. Not again, he won’t let this dream get what it wants. He won’t let Kokichi relive it.

Kokichi’s trembling hands lift the remote, he presses the buttons and before Shuichi takes another step, the Exisals surround him. He squeezed his eyes shut, Kokichi wouldn’t do anything.. he knows that. 

And then there’s sounds of arrows freeing themselves from their crossbow. 

And he can’t open his eyes, because he knows what it is. The world is falling apart because he disobeyed the dream. It’s trying to speed everything up before he can wake up. 

“I won’t let it finish.” He declared. The world flickers from static, to the academy, going through all the places where a murder occurred. It stops at the hangar. 

When it’s too silent for his liking.. he cracks an eye open. Kokichi sits cross legged, Kaito’s coat is draped around his shoulders, and his eyes are shut. Surrounding him are a script, bloody arrows, and an empty antidote bottle.

Shuichi sniffled. “Stop it. Please.. I just wanna wake up, I don’t want you to die again.. please.” 

Hoarse laughter erupts from Kokichi. “That’s so funny! Are you a comedian, Saihara-chan? DICE would love you!” 

“W-What do you mean it’s funny..?” His voice shakes along with the world.

Kokichi’s nails dig into his pants and his smile wobbles. “It’s funny because Saihara-chan would never actually be sad that I died!” 

There it is. The same thing Kokichi said at the start of the game. Nobody would be sad if he died, but that’s bullshit. “Why do you think that..” 

“I don’t think that. Maybe the real me thought that.. but I’m not him, am I? What happens here is what  you  think. Whatever you knew about him.. you’re enforcing it onto me to create.. a perfect copy or whatever.”

He grits his teeth. “Then who the hell are you!?” 

“Who do you think I am?” 

“You’re Ouma-kun! Right..!”

“How are you so sure?” 

What is all of this? Dream after dream he asks himself this when he awakes in a cold sweat. No.. dream is too much of a kind name for these.. _nightmares_ suit it better. Who is this? He says he’s not Kokichi..

And he’s right, because Kokichi is dead. 

So is this.. something like his guilt? It takes the form of his friends and puts him through this hell that ends off with them dying? His head spun, making the world spin and flicker even more. Kokichi still sits, eyes squeezed shut. “If you want it to end.. then let me go.” 

Kokichi then pointed at him. “You.. I was trying to make this easy y’know! I tried making you leave multiple times, so you don’t have any right to complain! You can’t beg and cry now when you did this to yourself! Just wake up and get out of here already!” 

“But I can’t.” He choked out.

Kokichi’s growing more furious. “And why the hell can’t you!?”

Shuichi sunk to his knees, staring down at the rumbling floor where his tears splatter. “I need to apologize.. that’s why I always stay, because it’s my last chance to do that. I didn’t even get to see you before everything happened.” 

His eyes squeeze shut, stinging from the warm tears. “S-So I’m sorry. But this is pointless now, isn’t it..? Because you said it yourself.. you’re not Ouma-kun.” So why was he apologizing? Why was he still here?

The static gets more intense, more deafening, to the point where he can’t even hear the shaky breaths that escape him. Then.. Kokichi opens his eyes, and it all stops.

His eyes are flickering through colors, finally settling for violet. Those eyes were the eyes of the Kokichi who wanted to live. And yet they’re so dull.. the life slowly leaves them as blood oozes from Kokichi’s arm and back, as blood dribbles from his mouth, as his breathing slowly comes to a close. 

“Did you end it..” Kokichi whispers, soft and melodious. “The killing game.. I mean.”

“Y-Yeah..” He says. 

Kokichi grins, cupping Shuichi’s cheeks with his frigid hands. “Then that’s good enough, isn’t it? Ouma he.. he can rest in peace because you ended it. But he can’t fully rest until you let me go.” 

This isn’t Kokichi.. just his guilt. It’ll be okay. It’ll be okay.

“..O-Okay.” He whispers, watery eyes creasing when the small hands leave is cheeks.  Kokichi’s grin grows wider as he lays down and wraps Kaito’s coat around him like a blanket. “Bye Saihara-chan.. and thank you.” 

And then he’s gone, getting the more peaceful end that he deserved. The entire dream world shifts back into the blank place it was at the start, only this time one thing remains. The whiteboard from Kokichi’s room. 

Shuichi lifts himself up and stares at the single picture in the middle.. it’s himself, and underneath is written..  _Trustworthy? _

Strained laughter escapes his throat, that was something.. Kokichi was never able to trust anyone in that game. So being considered a trustworthy person in his eyes.. it causes more tears to stream down his face as he lowers his head onto the board. 

“Saihara..”

_ Huh? _

“Saihara!”

_ That’s.. _

“Wake up!” 

His eyes shoot open, he awoke to Maki and Himiko shaking him gently. “Saihara..!” Maki calls out. He blinks, attempting to readjust. 

“Were you having a bad dream again..” Himiko asked, pointing at his face. “You were crying..”

He throws a hand over his eyes. “S-Sorry.. I’m sorry.” Maki and Himiko exchange glances before pulling him into a hug.  Maki rubbed his back soothingly and whispered. “It’ll be alright..” 

He nodded weakly, released from their hug and slowly succumbed to sleep once again.

This time he doesn’t see anyone.

**Author's Note:**

> y’know i just randomly got this idea ,, and i kept thinking about it so i just ended up writing it. its so random but eh i think that’s fine ,, more variety
> 
> thank you for reading!


End file.
